Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S4W-12128

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Expert Working Group on Welfare has been asked to recommend new benefits.

Question reference: S4W-12129

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when the report of the Expert Working Group on Welfare will be made public.

Question reference: S4W-12131

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Expert Working Group on Welfare will issue a public call for evidence and hold evidence sessions in public.

Question reference: S4W-11901

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance its agencies provide to support training for long-term unemployed people engaged in the Department for Work and Pensions Work Programme.

Question reference: S4W-11899

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what contribution it makes to the costs of training for those participating in the Department for Work and Pensions Work Programme.

Question reference: S4W-12116

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will report on the findings of its review of the fall in the number of pregnancies arising from IVF treatment at the Glasgow Assisted Conception Unit between September and November 2012 and when this will be made public.

Question reference: S4O-01683

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when the audit of waiting lists for colleges will be published.

Question reference: S4W-11698

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many vacancies there are for consultant oncologists in each NHS board.

The total number of consultant oncologist vacancies in NHS Scotland whole time equivalent (WTE) and headcount as at 30 September 2012 is shown in the following table.

Table 1. Total Vacancies as at 30th September 2012

NHS Board

Oncology

Total Vacancies (WTE)

Total Vacancies (Headcount)

NHS Ayrshire & Arran	0	0
NHS Borders	0	0
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	0	0
NHS Fife	0	0
NHS Forth Valley	0	0
NHS Grampian	2	2
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	2	2
NHS Highland	0	0
NHS Lanarkshire	0	0
NHS Lothian	1	1
NHS Orkney	0	0
NHS Shetland	0	0
NHS Tayside	0	0
NHS Western Isles	0	0
Scotland Total	5	5

Source: ISD Scotland

Notes:

1. Figures include Medical and Clinical Oncologists

Question reference: S4W-11703

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with the Israeli (a) Government or (b) Embassy following the recent visit to Edinburgh of the Israeli Ambassador to the UK and what meetings or contact have taken place or been arranged by the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism or his officials.

The First Minister held a courtesy meeting with Mr Daniel Taub, Israel’s Ambassador to the UK on 24 October. The Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, Fergus Ewing met with Noah Shani, the Israeli Embassy’s Minister for Trade and Economic Affairs in London on 13 November, before the recent escalation in violence. I also met with Mr Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian Ambassador on 15 November to discuss the ongoing situation in the Middle East and how Scotland and Palestine can forge closer links.

The Scottish Government currently has no contracts with Israel suppliers and we have no plans to visit Israel in the near future.

Question reference: S4W-11696

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) oncologists and (b) specialist cancer nurses the NHS has employed in each year since 2007.

The number of a) oncologists and b) specialist cancer nurses employed in NHS Scotland each year since 2007 are shown in the following tables:

Table 1. The number of Medical and Clinical Oncologist staff in post in NHS Scotland (WTE)

WTE	Sep-07	Sep-08	Sep-09	Sep-10	Mar-11	Jun-11	Sep-11	Dec-11	Mar-12	Jun-12	Sep-12
Oncology	71.3	98.8	55.3	89.6	92.0	91.6	91.1	91.1	90.0	89.6	89.9

Source: ISD Scotland

Notes:

1. Figures include Medical and Clinical Oncologists

Table 2. The number of Medical and Clinical oncologist staff in post in NHS Scotland (Headcount)

Headcount	Sep-07	Sep-08	Sep-09	Sep-10	Mar-11	Jun-11	Sep-11	Dec-11	Mar-12	Jun-12	Sep-12
Oncology	77	108	61	98	101	99	101	100	99	98	98

Source: ISD Scotland

Notes:

1. Figures include Medical and Clinical Oncologists

During July 2008 medical and dental information was migrated from the MEDMAN web based system to the Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS). This alignment provided the opportunity to capture all NHS Scotland staff in post information in the one system, which has resulted in more robust information being captured and reported.

Table 3. The number of specialist cancer nurses in post in NHS Scotland (WTE)

WTE

Sep-07

Sep-08

Sep-09

Sep-10

Sep-11

Sep-12

Cancer

173.9

165.2

170.0

182.6

245.1

242.8

Source: ISD Scotland

Table 4. The number of specialist cancer nurses in post in NHS Scotland (Headcount)

Headcount

Sep-07

Sep-08

Sep-09

Sep-10

Sep-11

Sep-12

Cancer

189

180

187

198

271

269

Source: ISD Scotland